Railroad-gate.



A. C. LOUTHAN.

RAILROAD GATE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-15.1918.

1,297,197. Patented Mar. 11,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I INVENTOF! Hr'Z7a/r C. Louihcm ATTORNEY WITNESSES A. C. LOUTHAN.

RAILROAD GATE. APPLICATION FILED MAR-I51 l 9l8.

Patented Mar. 11, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- INVENTOR fir w" C. Loufllan WITNESSES ATTORNEY TED s A ns t me OFFICE.

ARTHURC. Lofi'rHAn, ILLINOIS.

' RAIL O D-GATE.

To all whom z'tmay concern: I I

Be it known that LE,-

LoeTHAN, a citizen of theUnited States; residin at Ar'col-a, in the county of Douglas and $tate of Illinois, have inventede rtain-new and useful Im rovements in Railroad-Gates, of which the followingis a specification. v Thisinvention relates 'to an improved railroad gate and the principal obj ect of the invention is to provide improved actuating means for lowering the gate, the ac'ti l'ating means being so constructed that it may be operated from thetra'in thetrainsupplying the power for rotating admin to wind a cable thereon loweringthe gat e.

Another object of the invention is to so construct this structure that' a release may be operated from the train to release the gate and permit it to rise.-

Another object of the invention is-toso construct this device that the, gate maybe lowered by a train approaching froineither direction thus'perrnitting its use on a single as well as a double trackroad.

Another object of the invention is to provide an operating mechanism for a railroad gate which mechanism will be 'cpinparativel'y' simple in construction and comprise acornp'aratively few parts, of "which will be strong and durable and not liable to easily getout' oford'er. 3

This invention is illustrated in the a companying drawings, wherein v I Figurel isa top plan View showing the improved structure operative relation to a railroad gate and track. I

"Fig; 2 isa side elevation-of "the structure shown in Fig. I. i 1

Fig; 3 isa transverse sectional view taken along the line 3'3 of Fig. 1,- with the gate in a raised position. p 0

Fig. it is a vertical sectional view taken along the line" ofFig. 1 7 Fig. 5 is a rag entar view taken longitudinally of the track and showing a portion of the gate operating mechanism in side elevation,'and i I Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the trigger forming part of the releasing mechanism.

Fig. 7 is a detail section takenon the line 7 7-7 of Fig. 1.

The actuating mechanism for the railroad gate 10' will be positioned to extend along.

Speeificationpf Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 11,4919.

s pi icatioaeiea um 15,1918. seriei no; 222x86 tion'ed'ait the roadway. This gate is of aconventional construction and will be pivotally connectedwith the standard 14: throughthe medium of the shaft or axle 15 upon which will be; mounted the drum 16 havingv the springs 17 coimectec l therewith as" shown in Figs. 3 4. These springs 17 engage a pulley 118 and are connected with lines or cables 19 which pass about pulleys 20 and extend through the standard or housing and are led to the large pulleys 21 mounted between the upper lower bars- 22, the ends of which are secured to the supporting bars 23 positioned between certain of the ties 11. These cables 19' engage pulley wheels 24 and are led-along the track in opposite directions and wound upon the drum-s25 rotatably mounted between the bearing brackets 26. These drumswill be mounted a sufficient distance from the crossmg to permit the gate to be closed or lowercd before a train reaches the road. Each druir'r 25 is prc' n ided with an enlarged band or turning roller 27 which is mounted rotatably thereon and carries rubber tire 2'8.- This end ofthe drum is provided with a ratchet 27 as shown in Fig. 7 of the drawing and the band 27 carries-pawls 28 adapted toengage the teeth ofthis ratchet so that as the tire is tri'ctionally' engaged by the shoe 39 carriedby thepilet of the engine when the engine ismovi'ng forwardlflea rotarymovement will be imparted to the drum. When the engine is moving rearwardly,

however, the pawl's will ride'over the teeth the position shown in Fig; 5 to engage the ratchet wheel and "hold the drum against rotationiu one direction. A line 34 leads from the lever 32 along the track and is connected with "the arm 35- of the; rocker shaft or trigger 36", the rocker shaft being provided .with a second arm 37 extending upwardly and terminating in a roller 38' at its free end. It will be readily seen that when the trigger is moved to draw upon the line 34, the latch or pawl 30 will be moved track.

' indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

out of engagement with the ratchet wheel nism will be installed as shown clearly in Fi 1, and a train approaching the crossing will pass over one of the drums 25. The shoe, 39 mounted upon the pilot of the engine will engage the tire of the band 27 and will rotate the drum thus drawingupon the line 19 to stretch the spring 17 with which the line is connected and thus swing the gate downwardly to its closed or lower position. The pawl through engagement with the ratchet wheel 29 will hold the gate against moving upwardly. If desired a spring element 40 may be provided with the length of the cable between the pulley 2t and the drum, thus preventing danger of the cable being broken under the force of the strain received when the drum is first rotated. After the train has passed the crossing, the shoe 39 will strike the lever arm 37 of the latch or trigger 36 thus rotating the same toswing the arm 35 and draw upon the line 34 and release the latch 30 thus releasing the drum. -The gate is weighted as is usual in gates of this character, and therefore when the drum is'released the gate will of itself swing to a raised position and the mechanism will be returned to the normal position with the gate swung upwardly as As soon as the shoe moves out of engagement with the lever arm 37, the spring 33 will return the pawl30 into engagement with the ratchet wheel 29 and the operating mechanism is again ready foruse. In the present illustration, this mechanism has been shown in connection with a single track railroad and so arranged that it may be operated by a train approaching the crossing from either direction; It will be readily obvious that if installing in connection with a road of double track,construction, it will only be necessary to provide for closing the gate when a train approaches along a specified track in one direction. Therefore, it would only be necessary to provide one cable 19, one drum and one trigger 36 and connecting line for the triggerwith the latch of the drum for each could be applied to the second track so that the gate could be closed by a train approaching on either side.

The shoe 39, carried by the pilot of the engine is attached to a pair of levers il pivoted at 42 to the pilot of the engine. The upper ends of the levers t1 are connected by a rod 43 which may be extended in any pre- This duplicate structure specified ferred manner to the cab of the engine whereby the engineer may actuate the rod 43 to swing the levers 41 on their pivots 4:2 for the purpose of elevating the shoe 39 whereby it may be in a position to prevent engage "ment with the winding mechanism when desired.

, l have therefore provided a railroad gate and actuating mechanism so constructed that the actuating mechanism may be mounted upon the track and operated from the train, the train supplying the power to rotate the drum and wind the cable to lower the gate and further the train providing the means for moving the latch to release the drum and gate and permit the counterweights' on the latter to move it to a raised position. It is thus unnecessary to provide driving power other than the train itself.

I claim:

*1. In a railway gate structure, the combination with the normally open gate, a winding drum mounted between the rails at a point on the track remote from the gate, a cable connecting the drum and gate for closing the latter when the drum is turned, pawland-ratchet mechanism for holding the drum against retrograde movement, a trip located near the gate, and connections between it and'said pawl; of a band rotatably mounted on the drum and having a rubber tire adapted to be struck by a shoe on an approaching car, and pawl-and-ratchet mechanism between the band and drum whereby movement ofthe former toward the trip willturn the drum, as described.

2. In a railway'gate structure, the combination with the normally open gate, a winding drum mounted between the rails at a point on the track remote from the gate, a cable connecting the drum and gate for closing the latter whenthe drum is turned, pawlan'd-ratchet mechanism for holding 'the drum against retrograde movement, a trip located near the gate, and connections be tween it and said pawl; of a band rotatably mounted on the drum and having a'rubber tire adapted tobe struck by a shoe on-an approaching car, and connections between the band and drum whereby turning of the former toward the trip will turn the drum but turning .of the band in a reverse direction is permitted without turning the drum.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

I ARTHUR O. LOUTHAN. \Vitnesses I J. S. QUIRK, M. T. QUIRK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents,

Washington, Q. 

